Tag Archives: good things

The Transplant is Here!

Posted on by

Well, this is the week! On Friday the 21st of May, I’ll be getting my new kidney. Even more amazing is that it’s coming from my wonderful wife, Jeanne.

I’ve known this day would come for the last 7 years or so, although we didn’t find out until recently that Jeanne was a match and would be donating my kidney – for which I’m so grateful and thankful – she’s amazing and I’m a lucky man.

I’m also very grateful that I got the last 7 years of not needing dialysis. After my whole hospital stay in 2014, every day is one I’m thankful for, but for the first few months after the hospital I was on dialysis and we were thinking that would be a long-term thing as I went onto the transplant waiting list. But then I got very lucky and my kidneys healed up a bit, to my doctor’s surprise, and I got a whole 7 more years out of them! (If you don’t know any of this story and want some details, check out this part of my website)

Now we go into another stage of the adventure. Jeanne and I, and the kids, are so blessed to have family and friends who are so supportive during this time (If you’re reading this, you know who you are and we love you. Thank you.)

SO – if you’re a person who believes in putting good energy out into the universe for things, we’d appreciate any good vibes you have this Friday and through the weekend! I’m nervous, just because… y’know, surgery, but I also know we are in great hands with the fabulous team at the UofM Transplant Center – they’ve been SO great to work with, we’re eternally grateful for their skill and awesomeness.

Here’s Stef Din and I, and the Kidney SHE gave me. It’s a lot more plush than the one Jeanne is giving me, but I’ll love them both…. I’ll probably just USE the one from Jeanne more! 😂

A big reason to celebrate!

Posted on by

We got word that I AM NOW OFFICIALLY ON THE KIDNEY TRANSPLANT LIST.

This is good news. It means that I’m accruing time on the list, and I am now actively looking for a live donor.

In the next year to two years, my kidneys will fail thanks to kidney disease (acquired from my bout with Bacterial Meningitis 6 years ago). At that point I’ll wind up on dialysis, waiting for a kidney to become available. I’m grateful for the option of dialysis, but it comes with challenges and health risks of its own. So, the sooner I can get a transplant, the better.

The average wait time in Michigan can be 5-7 years for a donated kidney from a deceased donor. However, because of my other health issues left over from that whole incident, my transplant team has said they very strongly recommend a live donor kidney instead.

SO, for these reasons, Jeanne and I are asking for your help in spreading the word. If you’d be willing to share our search for a living donor with your community of family and friends, we’d greatly appreciate it. To learn more, you can go to Explore Transplant and get the information you need.

Finally, if you feel inclined and called to do so, you’re invited to consider becoming a living donor yourself! Thanks to the wonderful Pairing Program, your kidney wouldn’t even have to be a perfect match for me. It could match someone else, and I could get a better matched kidney in return! Of course this is a hugely sensitive and personal issue, and it’s simply not the right choice for many, many people, but if anyone out there thinks it might be something they’d consider, we’d be forever grateful! 🙂

If you’d like more specific info about donating a kidney, I’ll be having mine done at University of Michigan Hospital, and you can see their website about the donation process BY CLICKING HERE. Or, you can call the Living Donor Office at 1-800-333-9013.

And, of course, you can ask me if you have any questions! 🙂
Thanks, everyone, for reading this far and for caring. It means more than we’ll ever be able to express.

EDITED TO ADD: Wow, thanks so much for all the nice responses. For everyone asking, my blood type is A+, so compatible would be blood types A and O. However, with today’s Pairing Donor system, someone doesn’t necessarily have to match my blood type: Their kidney could be donated to someone else on the list, and in return I would get a kidney that best matched me!

THE SAFE HOUSE

Posted on by

The current show at Williamston Theatre is a lovely, moving piece by Kristine Thatcher and directed by Casaundra Freeman. Reviews have been universally wonderful, and this is one of those shows that SO many people can directly relate to, people are loving it. Charming, funny, heartbreaking and uplifting, it’s a beautiful piece about family, change, and the power of being there for each other. A terrific start to our 14th Season!

Read one of the reviews HERE!

Karen Sheridan and Dani Cochrane

Tobin Hissong, Karen Sheridan and Dani Cochrane

Dani Cochrane and Karen Sheridan

Opening Night production team photo.

Back row: Chris Purchis, scenic designer Gabriella Csapo, assistant stage manager Matt Kowalczyk, set dressing/properties designer Michelle Raymond, apprentice Becca Bedell, stage manager Stef Din, tech director Aaron Delnay, sound designer Sonja Marquis, costume designer Holly Iler, apprentice Ariel Sheets, John Lepard, Emily Sutton-Smith, Tony Caselli. Not pictured: lighting designer Shannon Schweitzer.
Front row: Tobin Hissong, director Casaundra Freeman, playwright Kristine Thatcher, Karen Sheridan, Dani Cochrane.

Grateful

Posted on by

So grateful for the chance to visit Italy last week, and see Tommaso! More pictures will follow.

One more thing I’m really grateful for is that this massive sinus infection waited until I was most of the way home before it hit me, and that my doctor could see me right away, and that breathing treatments and antibiotics and codeine cough syrup exist. And that my family has helped me set up camp on my couch for a few days while this thing runs its course.

Now, I sleep more. In the meantime, here’s a picture of something I tried in Italy.

It was NOT good. If you see this out in the wild, avoid.

Italy. Day Two. Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Posted on by

The Cinque Terre region of Italy is incredibly beautiful. The five towns are all close, located all along the coast of the Ligurian Sea. You can take a train or a boat to get back and forth between them, or you can hike along through the mountainside, along the cliffs and retaining walls, on very rustic, very old paths. After exploring Vernazza in the morning, we were excited to hike to Monterrosso. A beautiful trip, not for the chubby and out of shape – but I did it anyway!! Tommaso, my exchange-student-son from a couple years ago, was a great companion who was patient and helpful when I so often threw myself to the ground panting “HOW CAN WE KEEP GOING UP?! DOES THIS MOUNTAIN NOT HAVE A TOP?! When do we go DOWN?!”, trying to catch my breath and drink my water. 🙂 It took about two hours, I lost track of time because I kept passing out and Tommaso would have to revive me. Actually, even though it was challenging, we had a blast, walking from Vernazza north to Monterrosso, and collapsed into a bar the minute we got there for a well earned beer. We then spent the day exploring that beautiful city, and I put my feet in the Ligurian Sea, just because. Then, in the evening, we took the train back to Vernazza and enjoyed a relaxing dinner, and got to see how beautiful that place is at night!

Friday, we’re taking the train to Riomaggiore, the southernmost of the “5 Lands”, to explore that city, as well as Manarola and Corniglia as we take our time and make our way north back to Vernazza by evening! I’ll post about that Friday night or Saturday.

Marking the day

Posted on by

It was five years ago today that I collapsed at home and was taken to the hospital, marking the beginning of an ordeal that changed my whole life. If you don’t know that story, click here!

It seems crazy that it was 5 years ago – it feels like it just happened, but at the same tine it feels like it was a lifetime ago.

I am so grateful to the amazing people in my life who helped my family and I through that time. As awful as that was, it taught me how wonderful people can be, and how precious our minutes are. As I enjoy these extra innings of my life, I hope you all remember to enjoy your lives too. Love loudly, savor the world around you, every moment you can. Be a force of awesomeness and drag people in your wake! There is so much beauty to see, so much joy to share, so many people to embrace, and such an unknowably finite amount of time in which to do it – Be Relentless!

My Son!

Posted on by

As amazing as it sounds, my son had his last day of High School today! I’m so proud of him. Up next for him: a year in Germany, for his Gap Year Student Exchange Program, before he goes to college. I think the current plan is to come back after that and go to college for music composition and production.

I am super proud of his abilities as a musician and a composer, and jealous! I can’t wait to hear his music as he grows, and studies, and his talents expand even more.

Here’s a link to his Sound Cloud account, where he has a number of his songs posted. Check it out!

One of his songs, Jump, has over 11, 000 listens! His song Again was just chosen by the head of the Chelsea show choir, Company C, to be included in their Spring performance, where it was played with choreographed dancers performing to it. That was a pretty amazing honor for Max!

So, in honor of my son’s last day at school, here is a pic montage designed to make me cry.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A quiet morning

Posted on by

Here we are, almost halfway into January, and I still feel like I haven’t yet recovered from the holidays!

So much quality family time, so much laughter and storytelling and love. Oy -so much food (yes, that’s the part I -and my waistline- need the most recovering from.)

So, this morning I’m up before almost everyone. Maggie crept quietly out of the house a while ago – she’s taking care of a friend’s dog today, so had to go do that early. It was wonderful having her boyfriend visit from Finland for the holidays. Now of course it’s hard on both of them because he’s back home. I see them and think simultaneously “Boy, I remember being 19, that exciting young love, waiting for your future to start” and also, at the same time, “Good Lord, was I ever that young?!”

Max and Jeanne are sleeping in. It’s Saturday, they deserve to. Max will work later, Jeanne will be grading her student’s homework, like normal on the weekend, but I think today will be a quiet day.

In a couple of hours I’ll head to Williamston Theatre. We closed Beau Jest a couple of weeks ago – what a treat that show was. Wonderful team on and offstage, and audiences just loved it. We set some attendance records! Such a gift, to hear packed houses filled with people laughing together, sharing a moment of lightness and joy.

Next up is a wonderful piece, Our Lady Of Poison, a world premiere by Joe Zettelmaier. The elevator pitch: “Mother-Daughter poisoning team. Italy. Based on true events.” ’nuff said. 🙂

So, today I’ll go in and see a stumble-through of that, we’ll have a production meeting, and I’ll do some more work on the next play.

Before that, though: A little quiet in the living room. The dogs are curled at my feet, and my cup of coffee is still mostly full.

I hope everyone has a restful, fulfilling Saturday!

Pic Post Friday!

Posted on by

I had a wonderful quick getaway with my amazing wife Jeanne earlier this week.   We stole a couple days from the schedule and visited Saugatuck, Michigan.  We stayed in the fabulous Hidden Gardens bed-and-breakfast, where I now want to live year-round.

We spent a lot of time on Lake Michigan, at Oval Beach. Just beautiful.   Here’s the only pic I took at the beach!


To get to the beach, you have to take a short walk from downtown Saugatuck, across the Kalamazoo River.  This chain ferry is the way to cross and, according to the operator, it’s one of only a handful still in operation across the country!

Here is the guy cranking us across the river. Yes, when offered the chance, I did some cranking! Life is short, try stuff, celebrate everything!  😁


Jeanne and I had a great time, it was a wonderful relaxing couple of days. Downtown Saugatuck is adorable with lots of parks and little shops and great food. (If you go, don’t miss The Southerner, or Phil’s!)

This flower shop has the best name ever.

We also enjoyed some relaxing and great wine at a cool place called Borrowed Time…

 

img_1730

With life being crazy, and politics driving everyone nuts, and work being always busy, and Jeanne and the kids going back to school in a week…. a little breathing room with the most important person in my world was just perfect.

I hope you’re all able to carve out some hammock time, whatever your version is, before long.  These are the moments all the hard stuff should lead to. Don’t forget to take them.

Good things!

Posted on by

This week needs a bit of perking up. Here, in no particular order, are some things of beauty I got a chance to see this week!

This image of Prince was something I found on the internet, the artist made it as a tribute to him.  Friday the 21st was the 1 year anniversary of his death.  I lost the link to it that shows the artist’s name, unfortunately. 

The march for science was this past weekend.  Among many, many articles about it, this was one of the best signs I saw posted online!

On a sunny morning, some times of the year, when the angle is right, the sun comes in and reflects off of my wife’s necklaces (that she’s hung on a spare towel rack!), and it fills the room with a million little explosions of color!

This week we started rehearsals for the next show at Williamston Theatre, Taking Shakespeare, and it’s going to be fabulous.  The script is smart, funny, thoughtful, hopeful, and just a terrific ride.  Plus, the cast is amazing, and it’s being directed by the wonderful Mary Job! Can’t wait for previews!  (This pic was taken by Chris Purchis, of me making some big announcement about something or other at first rehearsal!)

This is a pic of Maggie, in Finland, in a car with a couple of her host-siblings, Aatu and Venla!  Love it!

I took this shot a couple days ago in the theatre – the seats look cool in the ghost light!

Some Spring has sprung in our yard!

More spring in the front yard!

Arriving early for the Tigers game on Wednesday.  Man, what an incredibly beautiful night for a ballgame.  Sunny, 75 degrees, the park was full and buzzing with energy and smelled exactly how you want a ballgame to smell.  One of the best places to spend an evening that you’ll ever find!  🙂

Jeanne and I were raking in the yard, and I couldn’t resist taking this pic of the sunset.

I hope you’re finding the beautiful things in your week, too!